November 18, 2009: Where Oh Where?

Where have my lettuce seedlings gone? They were there yesterday! Although they were growing very slowly, the germination was close to 100%. Today three of the four varieties are almost completely gone. I got down on my hands and knees (no easy feat for this old lady's body) and examined the plot, looking for signs of damping off, but I found nothing. Nothing. No limp little seedlings anywhere, just empty spaces. I haven't seen any birds in the garden bed, although we do have a few hanging around in the nearby trees. I don't know if lizards eat greens or not.

This one variety (look very closely, they are teeny-tiny) will certainly give me enough transplants to fill in the rest of the garden...that is if they don't disappear too! There is a bare spot or two, even in this wide row planting, that wasn't there yesterday.

Although the radishes are growing as expected, the lettuce is very, very slow. I think it might be wise to start some seeds inside, for transplanting at a later date.

I've got your answer: seedling eating UFOs came in the middle of the night and needed a snack. The only sufficient source of nutrition on this planet comes from seedlings of the lettuce that you planted. lol Seriously, I have no clue what that means. Did you find them shriveled up or anything?

Daphne, not close to Roswell, but we did come really close to Area 51 on our way down, and even traveled a few yards on the Alien Highway before turning south and driving by Nellis AFB. Maybe we picked up a hitch hiker! Hmmmm...were those crop circles in the alley? I thought the neighbors had been burning weed piles again.

No ants near the garden, birds yes. But the Red Sails was relatively unscathed...whatever it was attacked the red and green Romaines and the Buttercrunch. The radishes are OK (so far). Last year I put the radishes in pots, and just before they got large enough to pull the rabbits ate them.

********

Georgia_Peachy, lizards were my first thought. We seem to have more baby ones out there than usual right now. I was successful in growing lettuce there last year, but I didn't direct sow the seed, I started them in pots and then transplanted. Same with the spinach, beets and carrots....I hope whatever it is doesn't eat those too!

Di, thank you for the compliment! Yes, strange things do happen in gardening, but it seems more so here in the desert of AZ than in my native NW soil! I have seen a worm and a bee this winter, although it was the wrong kind of worm. Hmmmm, maybe it was he who ate my greens before I squished him!

********Kate, it would probably be much more profitable to grow toilet paper instead of lettuce!